The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season. Resources freed up as a result are to be dedicated to the development of new drive technologies and projects in the field of sustainability. BMW will continue to be actively involved in other motor sports series. The landmark decision to restructure BMW Motorsport's activities was made at the Board of Management's meeting yesterday.

"Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it's a resolute step in view of our company's strategic realignment," explained Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. "Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us. Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this," said, Reithofer.

Formula One with Major Impact
Dr. Klaus Draeger, the member of the Board of Management responsible for development, said: "It only took us three years to establish ourselves as a top team with the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season. Nevertheless, our ten years of Formula One experience have had a major impact on our development engineers. We have racing to thank for numerous technological innovations as well as the competitive spirit that drives us to develop mass-produced cars." Possible redundancies in Munich and Hinwil cannot be quantified at present.

Says Draeger: "Since we only made this decision yesterday, we cannot provide any more precise information. We will develop and assess various scenarios and do our best to find a solution for the employees in Hinwil and the staff members involved in the Formula One project in Munich. We are aware of the responsibility we shoulder and will inform the staff as soon as we can make a clear statement."

Team Will Demonstrate Fighting Spirit
Says BMW Motorsport director Dr. Mario Theissen: "Of course, we, the employees in Hinwil and Munich, would all have liked to continue this ambitious campaign and show that this season was just a hiccup following three successful years. But I can understand why this decision was made from a corporate perspective. We will now focus sharply on the remaining races and demonstrate our fighting spirit and put in a good result as we bid farewell to Formula One racing."

Motor Sports Campaigns to be Continued
BMW will continue its programs in a number of motor sports series: BMW will appear on the starting grid in the touring car series and young driver promotion program in Formula BMW. This will be supplemented by BMW's participation in ALMS, the American Le Mans Series, endurance races and close-to-production customer sports. Furthermore, BMW Motorrad Motorsport will continue its campaigns, with the super bike world championship leading the way.

BMW looks back on a long track record of success in the field of motor sports: BMW achieved eight Formula One victories from 1982 to 1985 with Brabham. In 1983, BMW won the driver’s championship with Nelson Piquet (Brabham BMW). The last win with the legendary turbo engine followed with Benetton in 1986. Ten victories were scored during the partnership with Williams (2000-2005). BMW had a total of 19 grand prix wins and 33 pole positions before the BMW Sauber F1 Team era.

In its debut season in 2006, the newly established BMW Sauber F1 Team wound up fifth in the constructor’s championship. In 2007, the German-Swiss team came in second after McLaren-Mercedes’ exclusion from the points standings. The 2008 season saw the team in the hunt for the world championship until the end of the season, winding up third. Polish-born Robert Kubica achieved the first and hitherto only GP victory in Canada on June 8, 2008. So far, the BMW Sauber F1 Team has taken one pole position (Kubica in Bahrain in 2008) and 16 podium finishes. The BMW Sauber F1 Team occupies the eighth spot in the manufacturer’s standings in the season presently underway.

Granted it is an ALMS Commercial (and BMW will be staying in ALMS), but I guess that building race cars isn't so much of a passion anymore if they are focused more on "new drive technologies and projects in the fields of sustainability." Then again, with all the drama going on in F1, I can't really blame them. Frankly, I think that all the teams should quit and reorganize elsewhere...but that's a separate topic.

Even though BMW has never been a top team, being involved in F1 really pushes an organization to work as hard as possible to develop cutting edge racing technologies- a lot of which can be transformed for mass-produced vehicles. Hopefully BMW and M GmbH will be able to keep this pace despite the realignment of BMW's objectives.

I guess runner up to ForceIndia this season has made them re-evaluate their dollars. I'm sure the almost, no didn't, budget caps also affected whether they would stay or not. It's a shame for sure...better grab your sauber/BMW hats/shirts on ebay now...when they are gone...they're gone...

They're sending one message, they're quitter once they found out they are not as competitive as they thought. Especially with all the big talks about early to develop the F1.09.
They thought they can compete in this season, and surely disappointed.

but....McLaren, Ferrari, Toyota, Renault were also shocked in Melbourne....
what do they do? they kept developing....see, in Hungary, McLaren P1 and Ferrari P2....

this is more like a Board of Management decision...once they don't see the result like 2007 and 2008, they just call quit and wave their hands and fire all the staff in Hinwil...

Bernie Ecclestone believes BMW's failure to win the World Championship within three years played a major role in the manufacturer's decision to quit Formula One at the end of the season.

The BMW Group announced on Wednesday that they will not continue their F1 campaign at the end of the 2009 season after failing to "meet expectations in the current season".

F1 supremo Ecclestone says BMW originally set their sights on winning the title within three years, but unfortunately things didn't turn out that way.

"I spoke to Mario, the team manager, who said they had three years to win the World Championship," he told BBC Radio Five Live. "He was quite confident they would, but it appears it has not quite been like that so perhaps that's why they have taken the reason to stop.

"When you consider how much money they've spent and the results they've got. It's probably not a good investment.

"They were quite sure that they were going to win the Championship within three years and I was hoping they would."

Seriously, does the management in Munich thinks they can just win that easy??? If that's the case, then Force India would've won it already.
Some will say "F1 is very easy from the outside."

There are so much things to come into play to win a Championship, great competitive car, fast, aggressive, and a cool head driver, good pit crew with minimum mistakes, good stragedy, good management (in terms of drivers and the team management), and even LUCK!!!

Wow, hate to see this. Have followed F1 since the mid 70's and despite all its issues, it is still the ultimate series to me. Hopefully BMW will put a full factory effort in to sports car racing and get back to winning titles in ALMS and maybe Grand Am. Would be ashame to see them leave their racing roots and their lineup for us purists seems to be shrinking.

You all don't get it. Sustainability/hybrid design/CAFE regulations will force BMW to bring 4cylinder engines and hybrid design to market. This doesn't come without significant R&D. The trickle down from F1 is in performance. The world doesn't care about performance at this time.

Three years to win the championship.... they are just being stupid.... utterly disappointed.

I mean, look at it, this year everyone was surprised with Brawn and co. cheating their way (double deck diffuser, etc) to win the first couple of races and no where to be found when their exploit/legal gap is no longer is unique. What did Ferrari and McLaren and Renault do? Develop, work hard, and McLaren Ferarri KERS OneTwo was the result. What did BMW do? They gave up KERS because they can't extract benefits from it in the first half of the season, and they gave up F1 just because they can't win in the first 3 seasons. Quitters and whiners...

BMW is the next Honda. From sports intention and passion, to SUVs and Huge Sedans. Green and eco are fine... but isn't BMW about passion and being the 'Ultimate Driving Machine'? They are more like ultimate ball-less machines now...

I can bet they will kept saying "Passion in Motorsport" even after they quit F1....

There's no passion if you're a quitter...Ferrari and McLaren...they kept on fighting even if they know their chance of winning WDC and WCC are bleak....

also, assuming there's no more changes...the aerodynamic regulations of 2010 will be pretty much the same as this year, why don't they start developing 2010 and use the remaining races as a testing ground....(since winter testing is now very limited)....i believe the only major difference is "no refuelling during race" in 2010...correct me if i'm wrong....

On the contrary, I think it takes vision to leave the most expensive form of motorsports in the world that is rife with politics and continues to ignore the biggest market for it's vehicles in the world.